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UL Assists in Founding the Association for Professional Social Compliance Auditors (APSCA)

The Association for Professional Social Compliance Auditors (APSCA) was created last month in an effort to bring more credibility to auditors addressing working conditions around the world

NORTHBROOK, Ill., Nov. 10, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- The Association for Professional Social Compliance Auditors (APSCA) was created to help ensure the professionalism, consistency and credibility of individual auditors and organizations performing independent social compliance audits, and to promote the use of independent social compliance audits, as a tool to advance workplace conditions for workers globally. The APSCA certification process will help ensure auditors have consistent training, education, background checks and demonstrated competencies that are standard requirements in comparable professional auditor associations.

Social compliance audits, often conducted by third-party auditing firms, are the main tool used by multinational organizations to assess supply chain facilities' and farms' compliance with local and international expectations of labor conditions. A result of a year's effort on the part of leading social compliance auditing firms, including Arche Advisors, Bureau Veritas, Intertek, SGS, TUV Rheinland, TUV Sud and UL, APSCA has been created to meet industry needs as supply chains become increasingly global and while hundreds of thousands of social compliance audit reports are already in circulation.

"Today, working conditions around the world are increasingly scrutinized by consumers and media, and in which multinational organizations are expecting more transparency from their suppliers," said Roger Brockway of the International Federation of Inspection Agencies (IFIA), a major sponsor of APSCA. "However, social compliance audits performed to-date are inconsistent, conducted by too wide a range of provider."

As challenges for workers around the world continue to evolve, and companies' corporate social responsibility (CSR) needs continue to expand, it is more important than ever to bring consistency to the social compliance auditing industry. Companies and workers throughout the world rely on the oversight provided by social compliance audits, and APSCA endeavors to provide a leading level of assurance.

The APSCA welcomes applicants to register for the APSCA certification starting January 1, 2016. Primarily focusing on members from the social compliance auditing industry, the APSCA will later include other types of auditors such as internal auditor staff from brand or retailer organizations.

Additionally, as the association expands, the APSCA is actively seeking an executive director to lead this initiative, and is also currently forming an executive and stakeholder board to be fully functional in the coming weeks.

About ULUL is a premier global independent safety science company that has championed progress for more than 120 years. Its nearly 11,000 professionals are guided by the UL mission to promote safe working and living environments for all people. UL uses research and standards to continually advance and meet ever-evolving safety needs. We partner with businesses, manufacturers, trade associations and international regulatory authorities to bring solutions to a more complex global supply chain. For more information about our certification, testing, inspection, advisory and education services, visit http://www.UL.com.